Dr. Suzanne Burke, HOD
Lecturer, Cultural Studies
My research focuses on Caribbean culture, carnival, cultural industries and creative entrepreneurship as these relate to the development and evaluation of cultural policies and programmes. I have worked extensively with a wide cross section of public sector enterprises, civil society organisations and private agencies in the areas of policy analysis, cultural industry development and audience research within and outside of the Caribbean.
I have worked on the development of cultural policies at both the regional and national levels, most recently contributing to the 2019 National Cultural Policy of Trinidad & Tobago, the first to obtain government approval. In 2014 I conducted the first Cultural Mapping Exercise of Trinidad and Tobago for the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism that was used to develop programming and policy for the sector. I have also worked with a variety of state actors to formulate policies aimed at growing the creative industry sector. My latest research examines the efficacy of creative clustering as a strategy for developing the creative economy and fostering innovation within communities of practice in the cultural sector. This research was the focus of my Commonwealth Fellowship Award that was completed at City University, London in 2016.
I have supervised students at the MA, MPhil and PhD levels in a variety of research areas including festivals, popular culture, gender performativity in carnival and nostalgia and memory in the popular cultural domain.
Qualification
- PhD Sociology, University of Essex
- MA Employment and Labor Studies, Institute of Social Sciences (The Hague)
- BA Psychology, York University
- PG Certificate Education by Practice, Essex University, The United Kingdom
Research Interests
- Industries in culture
- Arts based research and its related pedagogies
- Creative Entrepreneurship
- Creative Clusters
- Cultural Policies
- Carnival and Festival Studies
- Audience Motivations and Attendance
- The Nature of Creative Work
- Popular Culture
Featured Work
- “Re-imagining the local in national cultural policy formulation – the case of the Anglophone Caribbean.” Cultural Trends, Vol. 28, Issue 4, 2019, pp. 269-280.
- “Culture, Business and National Identity Politics – The Effect of Cultural Management Policies and Practices on the Creative Ecology of Trinidad and Tobago.” Jonkonnu Arts Journal, Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2017, pp. 1-17.
- “The Evolution of the Cultural Policy Regime in the Anglophone Caribbean.” Cultural Policy: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, Volume 2, edited by K. Oakley and D. O’Brien, Routledge, 2017, pp. 169-184.
- “Creative Clustering in Small Island States: a pathway to sustainable development- The Case of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Industries”. Caribbean Quarterly, Issue 60 (1), 2014, pp. 74-95.
- “Literary Arts and Book Publishing in the Anglophone Caribbean.” Caribbean Popular Culture: Power, Politics and Performance, edited by Y. Hume and A. Kamugisha, Ian Randle Publishers, 2016, pp. 726-745.
- Introduction. Cultural Practice and Policy, Tout Moun: Caribbean Journal of Cultural Studies, Issue 3, 2014, pp. 1-3.
- “Policing the People’s Festival: State policy and the Trinidad Carnival Complex”. Carnival – Theory and Practice, edited by C. Innes, A. Rutherford, B. Bogar, Africa World Press, 2012.
- “Policing the Transnational: Cultural policy and the Traveling Cultures of the Anglophone Caribbean.” Wadabagei – A Journal of the Caribbean and its Diaspora, Volume 11, No. 3, 2008, pp. 70-99.
- “Disjuncture and Displacement – The Evolution of the Cultural Policy Regime in the Anglophone Caribbean.” The International Journal of Cultural Policy, Volume 13, (1), 2007, pp. 169-184.
- “Culturing Development - The Dynamic Significance of the Arts and Cultural Industries in Trinidad and Tobago.” The First Mapping Exercise of the Cultural Sector of Trinidad and Tobago. The Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism, Port of Spain, Trinidad & T
Courses Taught
- CLTR 6030: Dynamics of Caribbean Culture
- CLTR 6000: Theory and Conceptualisation of Culture
- CLTR 6100: Methods of Inquiry
- CLTR 6010: Debates in Caribbean Cultural Identity
- CLTR 6230: Caribbean Creative and Popular Culture
- CLTR 7002/8002 – Contemporary Cultural Theory
